12-11-08 Wow's Birthday /  by Melanie Grizzel






12-11-08 This is my sister Hillarie's birthday today. I tried to ring her on 3 phone numbers and a text but she is not surfacing, good for her for taking a day away from it all.

I'm sure she couldn't possibly miss our dad's faithful Birthday good morning jingle "You Say it's your birthday." You just haven't lived, until you've heard that song, full back-up bad, live @ 7:30 in the morning, over the phone. He has been honoring us with this tradition for several years now. I usually listen then ask him to call back and leave me a message so I can keep it for a few months, it's so fun. Then he calls back with the same number for next year. It is something I look forward to every year.
In honor of Hill's Birthday I thought I'd post some pictures of her daughter, my niece, Reagan. She is growing up now, she'll be 2 in February and really starting to come into her own, in terms of personality and she is so much fun to play with. Over Thanksgiving she found herself a little Santa hat and hammed it up for the camera.
Thanks for looking.
Happy Birthday Wow (it's a pet name)
---mel

12-9-08 Abad Wedding /  by Melanie Grizzel









12-8-08 Steve and I shot this wedding a little over a month ago. Our couple was thrilled with the results. mainly they were renewing their vows after 14 years of marriage and trying to have photographs that best complimented their original photography. She email me images of their family posed together 14 years ago and I was able to best match those with their maturing daughters. They were quite the party crowd, everyone had a blast and the DJ was excellent. I hope you like the images.

---mel

12-8-08 Thanksgiving Tribute IV /  by Melanie Grizzel






12-8-08 Mom's Stuffing

Mom use to make this when we were younger, and she insists that she can't do it anymore, in fact she swears she can't cook anything anymore.... She cooked for us for years and now she'd like to sit back and let someone else do it. That's cool, I don't mind taking the reins.
2 loaves of low carb wheat bread 
1 loaf of wheaty-nutty bread
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 16 oz package of Sage pork sausage
2 medium onions (chopped)
4 stalks celery (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
32 oz of chicken stock (store bought or I make my own, by boiling the neck and innards of the Turkey for 15 minutes or so)
1. Start by toasting all of the bread. I prefer in the toaster, it gives the bread equal brownness and you can be working on 2 things at the same time. Then chop the bread into 1/2 inch tiles, mom used to tear the bread but I prefer the uniformity of the squares for my stuffing. This part can be done right before assembly or up to a couple days in advance. 
2. Saute the sausage until nearly done and add onions, celery, and garlic. Saute until the onions are wilted. 
3. If you're preparing your own chicken stock then take this time to do that.
4. Combine bread with seasonings then add sausage mixture, stir until thoroughly combined. Start adding chicken stock until bread is damp and clumpy. If you don't need it all don't use it all. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. A little trick I learned from Rachel Ray is to make sure that all of the stuffing has crust, since it is everybody's favorite. So we put some of the stuffing in the bird but it dries out the bird some, so we try to cook the bulk of the stuffing this way. Prepare muffin tins by coating them with cooking spray. Form balls with the stuffing and drop them into the cups. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes checking often. You're looking for brownness and texture from the crust of your stuffing muffins. All of the ingredients are pre-cooked so cook to desired doneness.
Hope you like all of the fun recipes.
tomorrow we'll be back, I'm not sure what we'll be writing about but I'm sure it's going to be fun.
---mel

11-26-08 Thanksgiving Tribute III /  by Melanie Grizzel






11-26-08 Patty Howe's Carrot Souffle 

Last Christmas Patty, my mother in law, prepared this awesome souffle and it wowed the crowd. I made it a couple months ago when we had some family in town. Again it wowed the crowd. So it was a request from my mom for Thanksgiving dinner this year. It's very similar in flavor and texture as sweet potato casserole but infinitely better for you since it starts off as carrots and not starchy potatoes.
7 cups chopped (about 2 lbs)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup fat free sour cream
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted 
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
cooking spray
1 teaspoon powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cook, peeled and chopped, carrots in boiling water for 15 minutes or until very tender; drain. Place carrots in food processor; process until smooth. Add granulated sugar and next 7 ingredients (granulated sugar through eggs); pulse to combine.
Spoonmixture into a 2 quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until puffed and set. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. (optional)
Enjoy this dish! delicious.
see you tomorrow.
---mel

11-25-08 Thanksgiving Tribute II /  by Melanie Grizzel






11-25-08 

Day II of the THanksgiving Tribute give us Pecan Pie.
Oat Crusted Pecan Pie (with Fresh Cranberry Sauce)
Crust:
1 3/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon ice water
cooking spray
Filling:
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup light-colored corn syrup
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
1 1/4 cups pecan halves
Sauce (optional):
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 fresh orange juice
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon corn starch
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. For crust, place first 3 ingredients in a food processor, and process until finely ground. Add butter, and pulse 5 times or until combined. Add 1 tablespoon ice water; pulse until just combined (mixture will be crumbly.) Press the oat mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch deep dish pie plate coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
4. To prepare the filling, combine brown sugar and next 8 ingredients (through egg white) in a medium bowl, stirring well. Stir in pean halves. Spoon filling into prepared crust . Bake at 350 for 48 minutes or until center is set cool to room temperature on a wire rack. 
5. To prepare sauce, combine cranberries, 2/3 cup granulated sugar, and juice in small sauce pan over medium-high; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until cranberries start o pop about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
6 Combine 1/4 cup water and cornstarch in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Stir cornstarch mixture into cranberry mixture; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring often; remove from heat. Cool completely. Cut pie into 12 wedges; serve with sauce. Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 wedge pie and about 1 1/2 tablespoon sauce.) 
I did not make the sauce I love pecan on it's own, I just thought I'd give you the option. This is a cooking light recipe and while I've adjusted a couple of things. I added a some extra vanilla extract and nuts. That's it. So the carb count per slice before the changes was 58.4g. So it's reasonably healthy ;) enjoy!
See you tomorrow with Carrot Souffle.
---mel 

11-24-08 Tribute to Thanksgiving /  by Melanie Grizzel











11-24-08

I'm really excited about today's installment and for the rest of this week in fact. Besides photography and lots of other things, I am an avid cook. A lot of people think I excel in this department too. This year I have been asked to bring Butternut Squash Soup, Patty's Carrot Souffle, Mom's Stuffing, and Pecan Pie to our families "pot luck" Thanksgiving dinner.
This week I am going to prepare them and photograph them as I go and provide the recipes to boot. 
Today we are going to make Butternut Squash soup with Coconut and Ginger
2 large butternut squash halved and seeded
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
kosher salt and cracked pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 leek, white and tender green parts only, thinly sliced
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup dry white wine
6 cups water
1 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 sprigs fresh thyme
coconut shavings, for garnish (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lay upright the halved seeded butternut squash put a 1/2 tablespoon pad of butter in each cavity. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes remove brush each half with butter, return to the oven for 40 minutes more. When cooled, peel and cut into pieces.
2. In a large pot, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons in the olive oil. Add the onion, leek, ginger, curry podwer and cook over moderate heat until lightly browned. Add the wine and cook until evaporated.
3. Add the cooked squash, water, coconut milk and thyme sprig. Simmer over moderately low heat for 20 minutes. Allow to rest off the heat for 20 minutes.
4. Discard the thyme sprig. Working in batches, puree the soup in blender until smooth; season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with coconut shavings and serve.
 

11-19-08 California Baby shower /  by Melanie Grizzel






11-19-08 This shower actually took place at the end of October but since I am pretty far behind I still wanted to share these precious moments with you anyway. It started out a pretty classy affair with fine china and green goddess dressing. Then the poop game game out...thanks Kelsi! Which if far grosser in person then it is in the abstract but I'm glad I go to play. As you can see the event was duck themed, I ran around and stole everyone's parting gift and now baby boy will have a slew of ducks to play with in the tub. The party was thrown by cousin Kelsi and Aunt Janet in the 4th shot, it's hard to believe they're related huh? That's them introducing the poop game, most everyone was a fan, but there were a couple of non believers and who could blame them it was gross.

Anyway there are a few shots from the event. See you tomorrow.
---mel

11-18-08 These aren't your Mother's corporate shots /  by Melanie Grizzel



11-18-08 Austin Healthworks is a young physical therapy office coming up here in Austin. They are growing by leaps and bounds and recently asked me to shoot some images of their staff and their offices. These images are a group shot of their entire staff.

I love the hero shot the most.
Hope you like them. Tomorrow something new. It's my goal to post once a day for 17 days, then it will be a habit ;)
This is day 2 of posting everyday.
---mel

11-17-08 Pregnancy /  by Melanie Grizzel





11-17-08 Since I am officially going to stop shooting for the moment until after the baby comes in January, I am going to fill my time with giving you a daily update of things that have happened over the course of this year. Namely, Steve and I are going to have a baby boy on January 2, 2009. So about 2 weeks ago my good friend Alyssa Kirsten was in town from New York to throw me a baby shower with Suzanne another good friend. The shower was outstanding and we'll cover that this week too. While she was here, I asked Alyssa to shoot some images of myself and Steve for posterity, and all of my pregnancy glory. She had to go to Houston first thing in the morning so our shoot had to be before first thing. Which should explain my hair ;)

Thanks for looking, talk to you tomorrow.
---mel

11-14-08 HUGE ad on 34th street in New York /  by Melanie Grizzel


We just learned this evening that there is huge ad running of an image I shot years ago.

Here is a link to the Bank of America website 
Above is the ad from the 34th street station of the New York City MTA.
Incidentally the man in the photograph was the person who married Steve and I in New York nearly 3 years ago.
Thanks for looking, I have several more things to share with you. But I'll start again on that tomorrow (hopefully.)
---mel

10-22-08 Changes /  by Melanie Grizzel


10-22-08

So not much is really changing and still everything is changing. 
We've had plenty of time to be thinking about this though, we have been pregnant since April. So really we're used to being future parents but that future is fast approaching and then we will be present parents. We're due January 9th. Just 21 days before my birthday and 4 days after my mom's birthday and 14 days after Christmas. Close enough that presents have 2 meanings but too far to still have it off for Christmas break. Steve and I are thinking of having a tradition in our house that everyone in the family gets to have 2 birthdays preferably 6 months or so apart that way for the first time in my life I can have a pool party for my birthday. And my two best girlfriends July 28, and August 1 can have a happy birthday ice skating or skiing. I rather like my birthday and I'm not sure what day I'll pick but we have about 3 years to consider is as out son will get to choose his extra birthday first. And he probably isn't going to be cognizant enough of it until at least then, probably later, I mean he'll likely be brilliant but maybe not that brilliant by then.
Tomorrow, we are going to head to California for our baby's first shower. It will be all of Steve's family and Patty's friends in attendance, Aunt Janet and Cousin Kelsi are throwing the shower at Patty's house. All I know if Kelsi is in charge of games and the shower invite had a rubber duckie on it, so I have no idea what to expect, they throw quite a party so I imagine it's going to be lots of fun. Kelsi is just 21 this year and has an awesome sense of humor so she knows my favorite thing about a shower are the games, I've already heard about one game I am mad for, hopefully it passes Janet's "yuck" test. We'll see on Saturday.
We found out about 9 weeks ago that we are having a boy. Even the technician was a little taken aback about what a boy he is ;) we're so proud.   
Our second shower is coming up the next weekend in Austin November 2nd. To be honest it will be the first shower in my life I was able to wake up in my own house and get dressed at my own house and go from there. I have been such a transient in the past. This shower is being thrown by my my 2 best girlfriends Suzanne and Alyssa. Alyssa is coming from New York to help toss the festivities and I saw the invitation it was so adorable, a hand made number shaped like a tea cup. It's a tea party at Suzanne's house. She is getting recipes for tea sandwiches from Patty who is a foremost authority on the subject. So suspect we'll be having some good eats ;) Plus it's a tea party and I love tea. I love the girly nuances of tea. It's one of my favorite pass times. Thanks to Patty for the introduction.
On November 1 we are going to take our only baby birthing class. This does not pass my my yuck test.  But at least we'll be informed, then the following weekend we are going to visit the hospital for a tour so we know where to go should there be an emergency, fingers crossed that will NOT be the case.
We'll be having yet one more shower coming up at the end of November thrown by my sister Hill in the Dallas area, we still have a number of family friends in the area. Not really sure what her plan is. She never tells me, she picks a theme and runs with it. Steve and I have been a little obsessive about Monkeys these last few months, I imagine our baby is going to be rambunctious he certainly is in my belly ;) so I suspect there will be something to do with Monkeys. She is throwing the shower Thanksgiving weekend. I am so excited about Thanksgiving weekend anyway, it's that much closer to baby and we get to put up the tree and it's her first Thanksgiving in their new house, and she just got dining room furniture so I know she is super excited about breaking it in. 
My plan is to put up a few of my most favorite holiday recipes and shoot them first so you can see what their supposed to look like. Soon. When we get back from California... I hope.
Have a great day, and we'll add some pictures of the shower when we get back. Thanks for looking.
---mel

10-12-08 Jamie + Shaun engagement /  by Melanie Grizzel






10-12-08 Jamie + Shaun engagement.

My plan was to put pictures up of the entire 3 days of the Erin and Jason wedding festivities but I changed my mind. I shot the most adorable couple ever, ever on Saturday and decided to take a hiatus from the Lake Tahoe wedding coverage to share these images from Saturday.
These 2 are the couple that everyone wishes they were. Completely mad for each other. Their wedding is in March so I am looking forward to that. As, I'm sure, they are.
Thanks for looking.
---mel

10-11-08 The Rehearsal Dinner /  by Melanie Grizzel






Erin and Jason's rehearsal dinner at Wendy and Chuck's house on Lake Tahoe. 

1. Grandma Peggy Roberts in a rarely seen image with her eyes open ;)
2. The Groom Jason wearing his "Passion Beach" t-shirt constucted by their friend and photographer Joe Abreu. 
3. A group of Family and Friends who I just don't know, but they are a lively bunch.
4. Steve-o and his uncle Brian. weird how they kinda look alike wouldn't you say plus they share a birthday and a common sense of humor, there is never a dull moment with these 2 in the room.
5. Erin's aunts on her Chuck's side. I just met them that morning at the baby shower.
See you tomorrow with some shots from the wedding + I just shot an awesome couple I can't wait to show you their engagement portrait.
---mel

10-7-08 Lake Tahoe /  by Melanie Grizzel






10-7-08 Lake Tahoe

2 weeks ago Steve and I went to Lake Tahoe to celebrate the wedding of Steve's cousin Erin and the baby shower of Steve's cousin Eric. We flew into Reno (the biggest little city...something) we got to see the sites there in town and drove an hour to the North side of Lake Tahoe. I would like to tell you how beautiful it was but I was napping most of the way. We rented a house with my in-laws Mom (Patty) Dad (Jim) and Brother (Nolan.) It was on a canal branching from the Lake and only 2 houses down from Patty's sister Wendy's house, she happens to be the new grandma and the mother of the bride. We spent the whole weekend doing family things, starting with Saturday morning we through a baby shower for Stephanie (Steve's cousin's wife) and their son Elias Arlo Olesen. In the early evening there was a BBQ in honor of the upcoming wedding on Sunday. Sunday was the union of Erin and Jason at a resort on the South side of Lake Tahoe. So I am going to send pictures with all of the weekend for the next few days to catch you up.
Thanks for looking.
Baby Shower:
My husband's cousin Eric and his wife had a baby just 6 weeks ago and my mother-in-law wanted to shower them with gifts. Sadly The new momma was still recovering from what I understand to be not a pretty comfortable delivery, so instead she threw a baby shower for Eric complete with all of the family women, cake and games. Eric is not a small, timid guy he is rather large certainly sturdy guy, so watching him open gifts and hold baby things for the room to coo over was definitely a highlight of our weekend. He and his wife live in Idaho so my husband hasn't seen him in quite a while and I hadn't ever met him up until this day. Eric was such a great sport to be there and not make the ladies do it ;) Good job Eric.
1. My mother in law, even with borrowed dishes and several miles from home can create quite a table scape.
2. Barbara and Wendy assumably commiserating about being new grandmothers. Barbara in June and Wendy nearly 6 weeks ago.
3. Patty cutting into her now famous soufflé. Yummo!
4. Eric playing baby Bingo, sadly he did not win, too bad I imagine those Burt's Bees gift bags would have done him well ;)
5. Eric opening baby gifts among the wall of baby gifts.
Congratulations to Eric and Stephanie for your new addition.
---mel

10-3-08 Austin City Limits Festival /  by Melanie Grizzel






10-3-08 

Austin City Limits Festival is a giant festival lasting 3 days in Zilker Park Austin Texas. It spans quite a distance with it's 5 or so stages of big name bands playing. It's a claim to fame for Austin the self proclaimed "Music capital of the world." This year we covered it for The New York Times, here is a link to our coverage. As many of you know I am 7 months pregnant and getting more robust by the minute and obviously have to pee ALOT, so I spoke with the promoters, the lovely ladies of fresh and clean media and they gave me full access to the entire park including a shuttle trolly that ushers you from stage to stage. Plus since my bag is such a giant, they also gave me 2 of everything for my husband to join me as my assistant, to carry everything and help me switch lenses and what not. All in all it was glorious experience and I'm glad I got to share it with him. Here are some shots from the show. Enjoy.
In order of appearance on Saturday, Sharon Jones, Man Man, Eryka Badu, a typical "Texas" crowd shot, and Robert Plant of Plant/Krauss formerly of Led Zeppelin.
---mel

9-29-08 Maxwell House in New York /  by Melanie Grizzel




9-29-08

In August, I was sent to New York to shoot a national ad campaign for Maxwell House, the images have not yet run in their markets. Instead I thought I'd send you a couple of out takes.
The first one is a set to see where everything was landing in terms of spacing and whatnot.
The image consists of my art director (left) my agent Paula Gren (middle left) the world's greatest assistant Alyssa (middle right) and The world's husband Steve Howe (right.)
It was rough seas that day and we were only on the  boat for about 3 hours but I have never been so sick in my life. I took everything I could to combat it and I even wore pressure point bracelets and I still got so sick. There are a couple of pictures of me laying on the bow praying to make it off the boat alive, but I'll keep those to myself. I now understand that pregnant woman get worse sick than those who are not. I wish someone would have told me sooner ;)
Tomorrow we'll have shots from the feature for the New York Times. Austin City Limits festival.
The following 2 images are 2 different set-ups and we shot on a tiny yacht floating the Hudson River that day.